Sasse Ridge, Jan 3-4, 2007
1/3/07
2666
3
My dad taught us that sometimes you just have to go no matter what the weather, because sometimes those turn out to be the best trips. Conditions skiing in Wed were less than ideal; 32 degrees, mixed rain and snow, 12 to 14 inches completely rain soaked unconsolidated snow. At least the heavy rains, which had just stopped, had not left the usual rain runnels that can mess up an otherwise nice hill. I made it to my usual 3800 ft elv. campsite however, and watched maybe 4 inches accumulate by nightfall.
Overnight the temp dropped to a low of 26, with another inch of snow. It was still snowing off and on when I started out the next morning a bit after 6 am, with another inch or so by the time I got to the top of the ridge. By 4500 feet or so, there was a foot or so of unconsolidated snow, quite light on top, with no layers, no crust. That is, just about ideal! So take a guess what the run was like. It lasted almost all the way to the tent, where Wednesday's rain soaked snow became a breakable crust.
Not much to photograph this week, except a few night shots. Here's one of the snow accumulating on the tent fly. This is a fairly unusual fly by the way, homemade and sewn using some sail making practices. When the snow builds up a bit more, it will shed almost all of it spontaneously. But this is supposed to be a trip report, so I'd better not say any more about the fly or I'll end up on Charles' problem poster list. :D
Larry
Overnight the temp dropped to a low of 26, with another inch of snow. It was still snowing off and on when I started out the next morning a bit after 6 am, with another inch or so by the time I got to the top of the ridge. By 4500 feet or so, there was a foot or so of unconsolidated snow, quite light on top, with no layers, no crust. That is, just about ideal! So take a guess what the run was like. It lasted almost all the way to the tent, where Wednesday's rain soaked snow became a breakable crust.
Not much to photograph this week, except a few night shots. Here's one of the snow accumulating on the tent fly. This is a fairly unusual fly by the way, homemade and sewn using some sail making practices. When the snow builds up a bit more, it will shed almost all of it spontaneously. But this is supposed to be a trip report, so I'd better not say any more about the fly or I'll end up on Charles' problem poster list. :D
Larry
author=Larry_R link=topic=5944.msg24634#msg24634 date=1168012311]
My dad taught us that sometimes you just have to go no matter what the weather, because sometimes those turn out to be the best trips.
Don't Know Unless You Go!
This has always been my motto.
When I rave of the great conditions to those that balked they write it off to my over optimistic attitude on snow conditions.
Action speaks louder than words.
Great job of going to get it Larry-Truly inspiring to those that believe in our motto!
Joe
Larry, you're going to have to start paying taxes for your homestead on Sasse! That, or you're going to have to start reporting to the NWAC for a new Sasse Ridge telemetry site.
Thanks for the snow report.
Thanks for the snow report.
author=MW88888888 link=topic=5944.msg24649#msg24649 date=1168050705]
That, or you're going to have to start reporting to the NWAC for a new Sasse Ridge telemetry site.
Thanks for the snow report.
MW, it turns out that there is a Snotel site on Sasse Ridge. This gives a fairly good idea of the conditions at 4300 feet, although unlike the NWAC sites that report precip to .01 inches, the best that the unheated Snotel sites can do is .1 inch or roughly 1 inch of new snow.
Several years ago I started working on a snowpack model that would use the Snotel data to predict how the snow has accumulated over the last week from the valley floor at 2300 feet to the top of Jolly at ~6400 feet. That's one thing the NWAC sites reports can't do . .. yet. :D If used with a little discretion, the Snotel model been reasonably accurate for the past couple of years. And when I get back from a trip, most of the time it's way better than my memory of the conditions anyway. :D
Here's a link:
http://web3.foxinternet.net/lrobinson/Sassehome.htm
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